A Long Street, Full Of Ships

A Memory of Bristol

Having a harbour right in the city centre gave Bristol an unrivalled attraction for visitors who gazed in wonder at the sight of tall masts - 'In the middle of the street, as far as you can see, hundreds of ships, their masts as thick as they can stand by one another, which is the oddest and most surprising sight imaginable', wrote Alexander Pope in 1732.

A long street, full of ships in the middle and houses on both sides, looks like a dream. It's a dream that no one will ever see again. Picturesque it may have been but the ships got in the way of the traffic.